


Life Blood

by KillTheDirector



Series: Chemical Cocktail [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M, The Chemical Garden Trilogy AU, They're both like 17 so I suppose it could be considered underage?, dystopian societies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 09:08:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillTheDirector/pseuds/KillTheDirector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they first meet, it feels like a strike of lightening. Jim's energy is bright and scorching, so it's hard to remember that in eight years, they'll both be dying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Blood

As he holds the kid against the wall, Sebastian finds that the dark eyes glittering up at him are full of mirth rather than fear. "What are you gonna do to me?" The voice is coloured with awe and the accent is strange. Thin fingers move up to the taller of the two's wrists, tightening around them like handcuffs; legs scramble for purchase on the brick wall, and a thin pink mouth perks up in a grin. "Are you gonna kill me? That would be interesting..." 

Sebastian makes a disgusted face, wondering how anyone who's living on borrowed time would find death _interesting_. He drops the kid unceremoniously, and the smaller laughs when he crumbles to a heap on the alley's dirty ground. "You were following me." Sebastian says lowly, scuffling the toe of a cracked combat boot against the ground; the kid sits up, not caring that his seemingly expensive looking trousers are getting soaked with rain water and god knows what else. He grins up at the taller boy, head tilting like a little bird. 

"You looked like you need the company." 

()()

That night they end up sleeping together; really in this day and age, there's no use for the whole 'getting to know you' part of companionship. Everyone learns to take take take and never give. Slow burning love is a myth. 

Jim (the kid's name; it's an old name, a lot like Sebastian's) stares at the other boy while running ragged fingers over and over already scratched skin. His thin pink mouth is turned down in a little frown, and he looks as if he's considering something. 

Sebastian puffs on a cigarette, blowing the smoke into the stale air that smells of tobacco, scotch and sex; his hand traces the notches and bumps of Jim's spine idly, and he comes to the conclusion that he doesn't want this to be a one night thing. 

"I'm going to live with you." Jim's voice says, tone holding no room for argument. Sebastian flickers his gaze to the strange kid and blows a stream of smoke into his face. 

"Alright."

()()

Jim tells fantastical stories of where he's from. 

"I grew up in a circus." He says one day; they're standing on a roof of some sort of ruined building (it might've been a hospital at one point, but no one goes to those sorts of things anymore. The lettering is faded with age, and only the letters _t's arts_ are able to be seen). Sebastian arranges the rifle he found one day in the trash, aims then fires; there's a _ping_ of one of the bottles they set up, and he grins. 

"Yeah? What was that like?" Jim's sitting on him, so it's hard to crane his neck to look over his shoulder. The shorter of the two winds thin fingers through Sebastian's hair and tugs lightly. 

"It was horrid...my mother was one of the whores that worked there." Jim hums softly, legs folding on top of Sebastian's back. "I used to have two younger brothers, but they ran away once they hit their fourteenth birthdays...maybe I should've done that too." He lets out a bell-like laugh, and Sebastian suddenly has a question bubbling in his throat.

"Were you a whore too?" The bell-like laugh is replaced with a slightly delusional one, and this time Sebastian knows Jim's mirth is real. 

"Very perceptive of you, tiger." The shorter of the two purrs. "The tents were arranged by different colours. Because Mother was Madame's favourite, she got the red tent which always received the best customers. Unfortunately, I got the black one." He leans down and bumps his nose against Sebastian's ear; thin lips press softly against his neck, and Sebastian imagines a slightly younger Jim painted like a pretty porcelain doll. "That was the tent that received only the worst clients with the the strangest kinks. Eventually I escaped and I burnt the entire circus to the ground." 

()()

Jim is never gentle when they have sex.

He claws and bites and hisses threats in Sebastian's ear, which the taller of the two finds he enjoys immensely. 

"Fuck me _harder_. Can't you do anything _right_?" Jim growls, although from the little sounds he's making, Sebastian knows he's doing something right. Slender legs wrap around his middle, and Jim bites savagely down on Sebastian's shoulder, drawing blood and groaning when hips snap sharply with the action. 

Only when they're done is Jim ever soft. He curls up next to Sebastian, not kicking him out of their bed, even growling out a "If you leave me, I'll cut out your eyes." before twining their legs together. 

Sebastian shakes his head, lighting a cigarette and breathing in the smoke while Jim mumbles "Cigarettes will kill you, you know..."

()()

They both despise their birthdays.

Jim stabs the calender with one of the kitchen knives, and Sebastian sighs when tugging it out of the wall. The smaller of the two is curled up on the ratty couch, spine visible through the thread bare shirt he stole out of Sebastian's drawers. "Seven years, Seb..." Jim sighs, turning onto his back and looking up at the other man (because they're not kids anymore with only a handful of years left to live). He closes his dark eyes and lifts his arms; Sebastian goes over and tugs him into his lap, fingers combing through dark hair. 

"It's still seven years Jim. Don't torture yourself by counting down every single second." Jim scoffs against Sebastian's neck, and sharp teeth clamp down on the skin. 

"Tell me that when I'm dying and you still have a year left to live." 

()()

The years pass, and they really live. 

Jim has Sebastian shoot protesters, which causes chaos and that causes Jim to cackle in delight. Sebastian is just glad that he can make Jim happy. 

When Jim's twenty-fourth birthday passes, both finally get the courage to say "I love you"; Sebastian doesn't acknowledge his own twenty-fourth birthday a year later because he knows that once Jim dies, something in him will die as well. 

Six months before Jim's twenty-fifth, the smaller of the two comes up behind Sebastian, wrapping skinny arms around his middle and pressing a cold nose against his ear. Sebastian stares at the calender and at the large red circle wrapping around and round Jim's birthday. "Staring at it won't make it stop." Fingers pet Sebastian's stomach and slip behind the waistband of his pants, gripping him hard. 

"It isn't fair." Sebastian grinds out, hands moving down to still Jim's ministrations even though he'd like nothing more than to allow the other man to continue. Chapped lips press against his shoulder. 

"Life isn't fair. Let's go blow something up and fuck in the rain." 

_Let's go really live for a moment._

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I wouldn't continue this buuuuut that didn't work out so well.
> 
> Next part will be Seb's death, oh how fun.


End file.
